Tales of the Gotei 13
by Writing bunny
Summary: Short stories of the Gotei 13 of the serious genre. Chapter 5: Soifon's hair
1. Rukia's first Hollow

**Author's note:** Hello, dear readers, I'm here with another short story collection. This one focuses on longer and more serious oneshots that don't fit into the **Bleached Thoughts**, which are for short and funny stuff. **Tales of the Gotei 13 **will be mostly Action/Adventure, Drama or Angst genre with only a side helping of humor. I hope you'll find them enjoyable anyway.

This collection focuses on the lives of Gotei 13 shinigami, both canon members and some original characters that appeared in my other stories **On the Frozen Plain **and **Stinging Bee**. If you are interested, you might find out what happened tosome of them here. For everybody who asked about a possible sequel to **OTFP**, I plan to post at least two oneshot that work as its sequel here. I won't post them until **OTFP **is completed.

That was enough rambling. Now on to the first story.

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><p><strong><span>Tales of the 13th Division<span>**

**Rukia's first Hollow Hunt**

Genre: Action/Adventure

Rating: T

Characters: Rukia, Kiyone, Kaien

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><p>"Are you sure?" the adopted Kuchiki princess asked, hoping that her voice didn't tremble too obviously.<p>

"Of course," Kotetsu Kiyone, at the time co-Fifth Seat of the Thirteenth Division, nodded vigorously. "It will be good for you."

"But I've never done it before," Rukia protested.

"That's more the reason for you to go," her superior said. "You have to start sooner or later."

That was true, but Rukia would much prefer it to be later rather than sooner. It was still soon after she had been adopted into the Kuchiki family and placed into the Thirteenth Division. She was assigned to be Kotetsu-goseki's personal assistant, but so far her job consisted of helping the other girl with paperwork and drilling new recruits. But this? This was way outside her experience. She was sure that she stood no chance.

"I don't think I can do it," the young noblewoman said.

"Nonsense," Kiyone waved her hand dismissively. "You won't have to do anything. Just tag along and watch as I destroy the Hollow. It will be a good experience for you."

Rukia still wasn't convinced, but Kiyone was her superior, so she couldn't do anything about it. So five minutes later she trod miserably through the South Gate of Seireitei, following the slight brunette and thinking about what chance did she stand if she really had to fight a Hollow. Her performances during Academy exercises with dummies were far from stellar and though she passed them, she knew that the real thing was going to be worse than any dummy. She caressed the handle of her sword. The zanpakutou was every shinigami's most trusted weapon, but she wasn't any good with it. Months of training with Kaien-dono improved her skills from 'dismal' to 'poor,' but that was far below what was sufficient in battle. She felt she was still years away from discovering her zanpakutou's name. Her Kidou was powerful, but if she cast it without incantation, it wouldn't be enough to dispose of the Hollow. And she doubted she would have the time to chant the whole thing. She really, really hoped that Kiyone would be able to deal with everything they'd run into without her assistance.

Such were her thoughts when they finally arrived at their destination. Rukia realized it because Kiyone stopped so suddenly that she bumped into her.

"Sorry," the adopted Kuchiki said, but Kiyone ignored her. She didn't seem to notice the collision either.

"So now we're on the spot," she began. "The Hollow is somewhere nearby and we have to find it. To do so, we can follow its tracks or search for its reiatsu or track its scent or..."

Rukia tuned out Kiyone's chatting. They were at a known Hollow's haunt now. The situation was dangerous. They could get attacked anytime. She gripped the handle of her katana, prepared to draw it at a moment's notice.

Despite straining her senses to the max, when the Hollow attacked, it still came as a surprise. Rukia screamed when it pounced on her. Some of the reflexes drilled into her kicked in and she jumped away. She landed on bumpy ground and promptly fell. The Hollow turned to her, its yellow eyes burning into her violet ones. Rukia lay on the ground, helpless. She felt fear like never before. Then the Hollow shrieked as Kiyone's sword cleaved its head in two.

"See?" the Fifth Seat smirked. "I told you it was completely safe." Rukia felt a sudden urge to strangle her, but she didn't dare to get up. Her knees were too shaky to support her weight. She stayed on the ground, waiting for her heartbeat to return to normal.

"Now you survived your first battle," Kiyone said. _Some battle, _Rukia thought, but said nothing. She still didn't trust her voice. "We are going to celebrate." And then she grabbed the unresisting girl and dragged her into the nearest inn. The newly adopted Kuchiki thought it wasn't a bad idea. She could use a drink.

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><p>It was well after midnight when a mostly sober Rukia dragged a completely smashed Kiyone out of the sake house. Kiyone was leaning on her, babbling drunkenly about how awesome Captain Ukitake was, what moron Sentarou was and how she was so much better than him. Rukia did her best to ignore her, but it was hard with the Fifth Seat's mouth so close to her ear.<p>

They could have stayed for the night, but Rukia didn't want to. What would Byakuya-nii-sama do if he learned that she had spent a night drinking in a rundown pub somewhere in Rukongai? Rukia was pretty sure that it was against some Kuchiki rule. That was why she barely drank anything after downing the first cup, letting Kiyone have the rest. And that was why she wanted to get back to Seireitei before morning, hoping that she'd be able to blame their latecoming on having to search for the Hollow. She hoped that she'd be able to blame Kiyone's current condition on some of its abilities too, in case the taller girl didn't sober up before they reached the barracks.

Halfway to the next district she realized that there were worse things to fear than Byakuya's wrath. Namely Hollows. She realized this when she felt the foul reiatsu nearby. _We purified that one! _she screamed mentally, initially thinking that the slain Hollow had somehow come back. But no. This reiatsu was different. It was another Hollow. And if Rukia wasn't mistaken, it was stronger than the last one. And Kiyone was now snoring on her shoulder, completely oblivious to the danger they was in.

Rukia dropped the inebriated Fifth Seat to the ground and drew her zanpakutou. She didn't even think of running. She couldn't run fast enough with Kiyone's weight slowing her down and leaving the drunken girl was out of the question. And she would probably just twist her ankle if she tried to run in this darkness through this forest. She had to fight. She found it strange that she wasn't terrified of the idea, given her earlier reaction to encountering a Hollow, but that might have been because of the alcohol still circling through her bloodstream. She assumed her beginning stance, facing the direction she thought the Hollow would come from.

Then she remembered that she was no good with a sword. How could she have forgotten? It must have been the sake. So what was she going to do now? Kidou was the obvious answer. _Let's start with something simple._

She removed her left hand from the hilt of her zanpakutou and pointed it palm-out in the direction she felt the Hollow approaching from. Then she began reciting. "Ye Lord! Mask of flesh and blood, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" As soon as she finished the chant, she heard the leaves rustle. "Hadou #31: Shakkahou!" she called, letting the orb of red light fly. There was a big explosion of fire and light. It revealed the Hollow standing ten paces away from where she thought it was, completely unscathed.

_Damn it, _Rukia swore. She had just wasted her best shot on a tree. But at least the tree caught on fire and the flames illuminated the scene, so she could now see what was going on. It was cold comfort. When she looked at the Hollow, she realized that she really didn't want to see this. It was gross. The Hollow Kiyone had purified earlier was a standard one, white mask, vaguely animal-like body with a hole and sharp claws. Scary, but not really ugly. This one was different. It had a white mask too, but it seemed to be twisted into a permanent conceited sneer. It reminded the girl of Byakuya. That filled her with dread. What if her brother found out she compared him to a Hollow? He would be so displeased with her. It was unlikely that he could read her thoughts, but with the captain of the Sixth Division she couldn't be careful enough.

She chased such idle thoughts away and concentrated on the rest of its body. The Academy taught that the shape of a Hollow's body can tell a lot about its combat abilities. How many limbs did it have? How did they move? How sharp were its claws? Did it have wings? Tail? Stinger? Did it have glands for shooting poison, acid or whatever? How would it most likely attack? Did it have some blind spots?

It had legs. Short and stout and a lot of them. Rukia couldn't tell how many exactly. They sprouted from its thick, cylindrical body in short intervals and they seemed to be struggling to support its massive bulk. The body was robust and long, ending in a short thick tail. The whole thing looked like some cross between a centipede and a salamander and it looked like it could move only at a crawl. But as the Academy instructors and later her colleagues in the Thirteenth reminded her countless times, a Hollow's appearance could be deceptive and often was. A shinigami who didn't want to end up as a Hollow's lunch had to assume that everything he or she guessed about the Hollow's ability was incorrect. And because Rukia had no desire to become some monster's snack, she had to count on it moving with lightning speed.

None of the above was the bad part. The really gross thing about it was its skin, if it could be called such. It looked more like a collection of burns, blisters, warts, zits, lesions and festering wounds. It stank. And it was covered in slime or pus. Rukia would bet her monthly wage that whatever covered its skin was poisonous or at least corrosive. She should avoid touching it.

Just as she finished her analysis, the Hollow attacked. It opened its mouth and shot out a long pale tongue. Rukia reflexively blocked it with her zanpakutou. The slime covering the tongue enveloped her blade. Then the Hollow retracted its tongue, pulling the zanpakutou with it. Rukia stared stupidly at her suddenly empty hands. _Crap,_ she thought. She was unarmed now, there was a Hollow at large and Kiyone was still dead to the world. She wanted to kick the Fifth Seat awake, but she doubted it would help. The brunette hadn't even stirred when Rukia had dropped her.

The Hollow shot its tongue forward again, Rukia's zanpakutou still attached to it. Some reflex made her move before it could hit. She avoided the attack, but she was still defenseless. Wait, that wasn't true. She still had her kidou.

"Bakudou #1: Sai!" she shouted. The Hollow stiffened. Did it work? Rukia didn't wait to find out and quickly cast another spell.

"Hadou #4: Byakurai!" The bolt of white lightning grazed the Hollow's side. It had broken out of the Sai just in time to almost dodge. That wasn't good.

"Bakudou #1: Sai!" Rukia tried again. This time the Hollow didn't wait for the spell to his and sidestepped.

"Bakudou #4: Hainawa!" a rope of yellow light shot from Rukia's hands to the Hollow. She didn't really count on it having much effect and she was right. The Hollow dodged again. It really was deceptively fast.

Then the Hollow got bored with the dodging game and attacked. Its tongue shot towards the young Kuchiki princess again. And this time the zanpakutou still stuck to it pointed with its tip at her heard. Rukia barely dodged. That wasn't good. It seemed that the Hollows attacks were getting faster. She wasn't sure she could evade the next one or the one after that.

Ominous crackling sounded through the clearing. Was some deity of Soul Society letting her know that her time had come? No, she realized, the crackling came from the burning tree. Rukia got an idea. It was crazy, but she had already tried every sane option she could come up with.

"Hadou #31," she began and the Hollow tensed in preparation to dodge. She aimed her palm a bit to the side, making the Hollow dodge the other way. "Shakkahou!" she finished. With a swift movement she changed the direction of the fireball. The Hollow looked a bit confused when it saw that the ball of red energy would miss it widely. Then it seemed to smirk conceitedly. So the little shinigami missed. Shows just how pathetic she is.

But Rukia wasn't aiming at the Hollow. She knew that without full incantation a spell in the thirties level wouldn't be strong enough to harm the Hollow seriously. There was an explosion of light as the Shakkahou hit its intended target: the burning tree. With a loud snap, the trunk broke in two and the giant oak toppled down. The Hollow realized what was going on too late. The tree fell on top of it and trapped it under its branches. The Hollow roared in pain and looked with fear at the flames slowly crawling towards it. For the moment, it was trapped. Rukia just had to grab her zanpakutou and purify it before it got out. And she had to hurry, because the tree wouldn't hold it for long.

That was when she realized a fatal flaw in her plan: her zanpakutou was still stuck to the Hollow's tongue. She nearly panicked. _What am I going to do now? It's going to kill me and Kiyone... Kiyone! _The Fifth Seat, still sleeping obliviously and dreaming about arguing with Sentarou, still had her zanpakutou at her waist. Rukia laughed. She crunched down and grabbed the sleeping girl's katana. Then she raced towards the trapped Hollow. She was just in time. It had already broken most of the smaller branches holding it down and was now working on the biggest one. Rukia didn't give it time to finish. She lifted Kiyone's sword high above her head.

"Kiyaaaaa!" she shouted at the top of her lungs and swung the borrowed weapon down. It cut through the Hollow's mask and head like a knife through butter. The Hollow let out one last tortured shriek and dissolved into a cloud of black ashes. Rukia sighed in relief. She did it. She had purified her first Hollow. They were safe now. Well, expect for the beginning forest fire. Rukia tried to come up with a method to quench it for a moment, but came up empty. She had to get them both out.

She retrieved her sword from under the tree. Thankfully the slime had disappeared along with the Hollow, so her weapon wasn't too gross to touch. She sheathed it quickly and returned Kiyone's sword to her. Then she draped the prone girl over her shoulders and headed towards Seireitei.

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><p>The sun was about to rise when she finally reached the Thirteenth Division barracks. She was sure that the trip into Rukongai didn't take them this long. It probably was because she was so tired. The battle took a lot out of her and Kiyone was heavy, even if she didn't look that way. Now if she managed to sneak the still sleeping Kiyone into her quarters before anybody noticed them, she could pretend they had returned much earlier than they really did.<p>

"You're up early, Kuchiki," a cheerful voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Kaien-dono!" she exclaimed.

"You look tired," the lieutenant observed. "As if you didn't get enough sleep. Where were you?"

"I accompanied Kotetsu-goseki on her Hollow-hunting mission." Facing Kaien, all her intentions of deception crumbled. She couldn't lie to him.

"So how did it go?" Shiba wanted to know.

"The Hollows were purified," Kuchiki answered.

"What happened to Kiyone?"

"Uh... well..." Rukia didn't know whether she should rat out her superior for being drunk, but then she realized that Shiba-fukutaichou could see it. "Well, she insisted we have to celebrate killing the first Hollow and..." she shrugged. She didn't want to go into details.

"You said she got drunk after killing one Hollow? But there were more?" Kaien questioned.

"Well, it was like this:" and Rukia started telling the full story. Kaien listened intently.

"Good work, Kuchiki," he said with a smile. "You said the Hollow looked really gross? Did it perhaps have a V-shaped mark on the chin?"

Rukia tried hard to remember. It had been hard to see such details in the firelight and constantly moving shadows, but now that she thought about it, there had been something on its chin. "Yes," she nodded. "It had such mark." Or her memory was playing her tricks on her.

"Whoa," Kaien said in awe, "that sounds like the Hollow was Sleaze-V. A dangerous one. It killed a shinigami before."

"R-really?" Rukia was hit by a sudden sense of dread. She began shaking. The bout of courage granted by the sake had disappeared alongside the traces of alcohol in her blood and she now realized just how close she had come to death. Then she felt Kaien ruffling her hair. She looked up at his grinning face.

"Why so scared, Kuchiki?" he asked. "You won, didn't you?" She nodded mutely. Kaien's gesture made her feel better, but a part of the dread was still there. "It means you have talent, if you killed such a dangerous Hollow on your first try. That should be nurtured. You know what? From now on, you'll be going with us Hollow hunting more often."

Going Hollow-hunting again? Rukia's heart nearly stopped. Would she have to face such monsters, and possibly even more dangerous ones, on regular basis from now on? Oh please no!

"Why so scared?" Kaien questioned. "There will always be an experienced shinigami to protect you. You wouldn't have to fight for your life."

"You know, that's exactly what Fifth Seat Kotetsu said," Rukia pointed out.

"Don't worry," the fukutaichou reassured her, "most officers know better than to get drunk."

"Somehow, this doesn't reassure me any."

"You'll be fine," he smiled. "You're strong, Kuchiki."

Rukia just nodded. She could see that arguing was pointless. Kaien-dono had already made a decision and she couldn't change it. She could only hope that she would live up to his expectations. And if not, then she hoped that she would at least live.


	2. Yu's life

**Author's note: **This ties with my story **Stinging Bee.** The original characters appearing here are the same.

**Tales of the Second Division**

**Yu's life**

Genre: Tragedy

Rating: T

Characters: OC, Soifon

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><p>He was born into a noble family. He was the firstborn son of the seventh head of the Fon clan and the heir. It would have been good if it wasn't for the traditions of their family. Yu didn't mind serving in the Onmitsukidou, but as he trained to become an assassin, it was becoming apparent that he wasn't good enough. His relatives never forgot to remind him what the punishment was for those who didn't make it to the Keigun Brigade. So Yu trained and trained until he dropped and then trained some more and it still wasn't enough. Even his brother Keung, who was a lot younger and currently half his size, could defeat him in combat now. Yu hated it. Keung wasn't training half as hard as him, but he had more reiatsu. Stupid accident of birth gave the younger brother strength he didn't have to work for.<p>

Then it was time for Yu to enter the Academy and gain the formal education required to enter the Onmitsukidou. Yu didn't know it for sure, but he suspected that he was admitted into the Shinoureijutsuin only because of his family's intervention. His scores on the entrance test were pretty low.

Once in the Academy, he was placed into the lowest class and even there he struggled. He didn't have the raw power to strengthen his blows or cast Kidou stronger than the lowest level. But he refused to give up. He trained and trained and he was always able to pass into the next year, even if it was by the skin of his teeth.

He graduated on his own merit, of that he was sure. If his results were any worse, he would have failed, but he had passed and that counted. Then came the entrance exam into the Onmitsukidou and he failed. He didn't qualify even for the Reversal Counter Force, the lowest branch of the Onmitsukidou. It was a terrible blow. He had hoped for at least a tiny bit of comfort from his family, but he was disappointed. True to the Fon traditions, they declared him a disgrace to their name and disowned him. To them, it was as if he had never existed.

Left to his own devices, he was forced to work odd jobs to make ends meet. And even during the worst times, he didn't stop his training. He hoped that maybe if he managed to get into the Onmitsukidou the next year, his family would accept him back. But he failed again. The year after that he applied for the Gotei 13 too. He failed again. Finally, four years after his graduation, he was accepted into the Fourth Division. It wasn't what he had imagined doing, but it was better than how he had lived before.

That was until he realized what his new duties were. Because of his low reiatsu and less than perfect Kidou, he wasn't allowed to actually heal anyone. He was stuck making the beds, sweeping the floors and bathing the patients who couldn't move. He hated it. He hated it utterly. It was so unfair. He had worked so hard, yet he was never rewarded for it. And his brother Keung, who was never half as hard-working as him, succeeded at everything. He was admitted into the Punishment Corps, became a unit commander, married a rich noblewoman and had six children with her. It was just so unfair and Yu resented him for it.

It was easy for Yu to keep track of his former family. A lot of people came to the Relief Station, the Medical Relief Units met a lot of people and all the medical staff talked. Therefore Yu was among the first people who knew every time Keung got injured. Yu never visited his former brother and the one time they met in the hallway accidentally Keung didn't seem to recognize him. That angered Yu immensely. Had his little brother already forgotten him? Did Yu mean nothing to him anymore? Knowing the Fon, it was probably the case.

But Yu couldn't forget Keung. He kept tabs on Keung's medical records. He laughed when an injury forced the Eighth Head of the Fon Clan into early retirement. Finally Keung's perfect life was crumbling. But it still wasn't enough. Yu felt even happier when he learned about the deaths of Keung's sons. He lost all five of them within a few years. And his wife died too. Now if his only daughter croaked too, Yu's happiness would be perfect.

But instead it was Keung who died. Yu was almost ready to forget about his former family, dismissing his niece as insignificant, but then he began hearing more and more about her. Elite bodyguard of Shihouin Yoruichi. Then the commander of the Punishment Corps. And finally the Commander-in-Chief of the whole Onmitsukidou and Captain of the Second Division. By that time, Yu was almost consumed by his bitterness. Why should a stupid little girl gain so much when he was denied everything? But he couldn't do anything about it so he kept quiet, swept floors and stewed in his hate.

He got to meet his famous niece (former niece) once. She visited somebody in the General Relief Station and he nearly bumped into her when he was rushing to deliver clean bedsheets on time. He dropped his cargo when he stopped abruptly to avoid the collision. Soifon looked down at him, despite the fact that she was a lot shorter. Her eyes were full of contempt and there wasn't even a flicker of recognition. She said nothing and continued on her way.

_How dare you? _Yu thought as he picked the now dirty sheets from the floor. How dared the bitch not show respect to her uncle? He was the one who was supposed to be the head of the Fon clan, not her. Yet she obviously thought she was so much better than him. She was the one who was supposed to be sweeping floors and cooking meals and he was the one who should be serving in the Onmitsukidou and ruling the Fon house. At that moment, he swore he was going to get his revenge on her for his pathetic life. But Soifon was too distant and powerful for him to reach.

When he heard about Aizen's betrayal, he was disappointed. Why didn't they let him in? He would have gladly helped them destroy Soul Society. Everything there was so unfair and it deserved to be destroyed. But the traitors didn't let him in. They didn't even want him to gather information, one of his best skills. And he could have told them so much. Even they were so unfair. He wanted to destroy them too, but for now, he was content to watch as they and the leadership of the Gotei 13 destroyed each other.

Then suddenly Yu realized that his chance came. Soifon was badly wounded after the latest battle with the three traitors and she was recovering in the Fourth Division's hospital. Finally she was defenseless and within his reach. He would have danced with glee, but he didn't want to risk anybody seeing him. There would be a lot of time to dance once Soifon was dead. He remembered everything he had learned about assassinations in his youth and devised a plan.

He switched shifts with another member of the Fourth, so that now he'd be the one to take care of the wounded woman. There were guards everywhere, but Yu didn't mind. He knew how to work around them.

His first impulse was just to poison Soifon's food, but he dismissed it. He wanted to see her die. He laced her next meal with sedatives instead. It was actually safer than trying to poison her outright. She was trained to recognize the taste of the most common poisons and some uncommon ones, but sedatives were a different business. They could remain unnoticed.

He knew it was a risk, but he brought the drugged food to her himself. It allowed him to see where the guards were stationed and how many there were. He could see two, one on each side of her bed. He suspected there were some more he couldn't see. But that didn't matter. He planned to act so fast they wouldn't have the time to react.

He was a bit slow in leaving the room. So much that one of the usually impassive masked guards glared at him. Yu didn't mind. Before he left the room, he saw as Soifon picked the chopsticks and began eating the laced food. It was all he could do not to let a smug grin appear on his face before the door closed behind him.

An hour later, he returned to the room under the pretense of picking the empty dishes. The two guards stood still, as if they hadn't moved since he had left. Soifon lay on the bed fast asleep. The empty bowl lay on the nightstand, right beside his bed. Everything was going according to his plan.

He walked towards the bowl, trying to look as casual as he could. Then, as he leaned down to reach for the bowl, he let the dagger concealed within his sleeve slide into his palm and with a lightning fast motion stabbed at his niece's throat. He knew that he wouldn't be able to walk away after this, but he didn't care. As long as Soifon died, he didn't mind dying too. At this point revenge was more important than survival.

His attack was stopped not even halfway to its target by a hand catching his wrist in an iron grip. The next moment a blade landed on his throat and he felt himself being suffocated in a monstrous reiatsu.

"That was sloppy," Soifon, suddenly wide awake, sneered. "Did you really think you can get me with such an amateurish attack?

_No! _Yu thought. This couldn't be happening. He had planned so hard. He couldn't let himself be thwarted so easily. He let out a mighty roar and threw the dagger at Soifon. Or he tried to. Her grip on his wrist didn't slacken a bit, so the weapon only fell from his fingers. He tried to launch himself forward, but only felt the blade placed against his throat slice deep into his body. Blood flowed freely.

"Idiot," Soifon commented. There was only scorn in her voice. "What did you think you'd accomplish?"

Yu wanted to tell her, but he couldn't. The blade cut his throat too deep. He could only snarl at her as his lifeblood flowed out.

"Oh, you can't talk? Well, it doesn't really matter," the Commander of the Onmitsukidou shrugged. "You're probably just one of Aizen's flunkies, aren't you?" He wanted to tell her no, to explain just who he was and why exactly he wanted to kill her, but all that got past his lips was a gurgle. "No?" She raised an eyebrow. "Well, you are even more pathetic than most of them. I guess it doesn't really matter who you are. You won't be soiling this world with your stench much longer anyway." Then she turned to her guards. "Take away the corpse." The silent ninja obeyed.

As he was dragged out and his sight darkened, Yu thought that not only he failed to kill his target, his (former) niece didn't even know who he was and why did he want to kill her. And she didn't care.


	3. Erionni

**Author's note:** This is the promised sequel to **On the Frozen Plain**. It happens years after the end of OTFP, but years before the Soul Society arc in the manga. For those that are interested, there are pictures of some OCs appearing here on my DeviantArt profile. Link is on my Author's profile page.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.**

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><p><strong>Tales of the Tenth Division <strong>

**Erionni**

**Genre: Action/Adventure**

**Rating: T**

**Characters: Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, OCs and surprise guests**

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><p>When the report about the Hollow disturbance in North Rukongai first came in, Hitsugaya didn't think much of it. The Tenth Division dealt with such problems regularly. He sent a unit there, expecting them to deal with it. The problem was that they didn't. The next report said that three shinigami were lost and the rest barely escaped with their lives. Hitsugaya sent seated officers to deal with the problem. The next day the Fifth Seat was killed and the Hollows still remained at large.<p>

At that moment the young captain knew that he had to act himself if he didn't want to lose more men needlessly. He woke up Matsumoto from her alcoholic slumber and told her to pack her things. After he convinced her that she didn't need so much make-up for what was supposed to be a short trip, he left the division in command of Third Seat Arai and they headed north.

They arrived at their destination shortly. They could travel fast when they didn't have to slow down their pace to accommodate weaker members of their division. Even if they couldn't feel the shinigami reiatsu in the village, they could tell they were at the correct spot just by looking. Several houses were torn by the struggle and there was lots of clover growing everywhere, its rose blossoms looking too cheerful in the desolate scene.

They walked into the village and found the highest ranked officer still in fighting shape there. It turned out to be Eighth Seat Kayabuki Hitomi.

"Report," he said. The young woman started retelling their story.

.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv.

When the unit lead by Fifth Seat Nakai met the survivors from the original unit, they asked them everything they knew about the danger they faced. They didn't learn much. The mostly unseated shinigami could tell them only that there were several Hollows, but they couldn't agree on their exact amount, and that they were strong. Twentieth Seat Ishiwara Hiro said that some of the Hollows seemed unreal to him, but nobody confirmed his story. So Nakai's group sent all the wounded to the Fourth, took the stronger members of the original unit with them and headed to the village. They expected the standard attack of a pack of Hollows, so they acted accordingly. They divided into pairs and searched the area. Looking for where did the Hollows go.

The attack came unexpectedly. One moment the day was bright and clear and they were wandering through the blooming meadows and the next moment they were surrounded by countless Hollows that seemed to come out of nowhere and they had to fight for their lives desperately.

"How comes we couldn't feel them earlier?" Kayabuki questioned while blocking a vicious claw swipe. Her companion, Ishiwara, only shrugged.

"We couldn't feel them either," he said.

"And you couldn't tell us sooner?" Hitomi shouted. She slashed at one Hollow, but her sword passed right through it without encountering any resistance. That threw the Eighth Seat off balance and she stumbled. "What the..." she began, but then the Hollow pounced at her. Her question turned in a panicked scream, but the expected pain didn't come. The Hollow passed right through her without causing her any pain or discomfort.

"I said some of them just weren't there!" Hiro gloated. Then he screamed as one Hollow that definitely was there cut into his side. Fortunately it wasn't a serious wound.

"But some of them are there," Kayabuki observed. Unfortunately she couldn't tell which ones were which. If some of them were only incorporeal illusions, they shouldn't emit any reiatsu or make any sounds. Unfortunately there was a lot of noise around and a lot of reiatsu thrown around she was unable to distinguish between the real ones and the illusions.

"Everybody gather around me!" Nakai's voice carried around the battlefield. Hitomi and Hiro obeyed and started making their way towards their commander. They met with Seventh Seat Takezoe on the way. The man was bleeding from a shallow wound and his partner was nowhere to be seen. That probably meant he was dead. The trio joined forces and battled opponents both real and imaginary, slowly making their way towards Nakai's location.

Then an ear-piercing shriek sounded and Nakai's reiatsu suddenly disappeared.

"Crap!" Takezoe Koukichirou cursed upon feeling his superior die. "That means I'm in command now."

"Looks like it," Kayabuki said. "Shakkahou!" she shouted, firing a Hadou into the fray of Hollows, hoping that she'd hit one that was actually there.

The Seventh Seat meanwhile was thinking about a strategy. After a few seconds, he finally came up with something. "We're going to..." he started but didn't finish. One Hollow used his distraction to get past his guard and sink its claws into his stomach. Takezoe cleaved its head in two immediately afterwards, but the damage was already done. He sank to his knees, clutching at the bleeding wounds. Such injury wasn't fatal for somebody of his power, but it prevented him from fighting effectively and that was fatal in this situation.

Hitomi quickly looked around. She was the highest ranked officer still able to fight here now. It was upon her to save as many people as she could. And as she saw it, there was only one thing she could do. She didn't like using her shikai in this type of battles, because it affected her allies as well as her enemies. She reserved it for when she fought alone. Then her ability could turn even a tough battle in her favor. As she saw the situation now, she could very well be fighting alone. Takezoe was out of commission, Ishiwara was barely dodging and everybody else was too far and probably not faring very well. She took a deep breath and began.

"Iroka hanahiraku, Yotsubanokuro-ba nobe!"_Blossom colorfully, Field of Four-leaf Clover! _First buds appeared on the guard of her sword, that was shaped like a four-leaf clover, then they quickly grew into leaves and blooms. Kayabuki shook her sword. Pollen flew from the blossoms and landed on the ground. There it immediately began growing. Soon there was a patch of full-grown four-leaf clover surrounding her location. The plants wrapped around everything that stepped onto them, preventing it from moving. Takezoe and Ishiwara were held in place, but so were all the Hollows actually dangerous to them. Whatever ran across the patch of clover and could still move was an illusion. Whatever couldn't, Hitomi spotted easily and finished it off with her sword. The clover didn't hinder its mistress any. As she swung her sword in combat, the blossoms on the guard produced more pollen and spread it over a wider area.

She quickly shunpoed to where she felt her comrades fighting. She shook her sword, creating a field of clover around them. It trapped them, but it trapped the Hollows too. Hitomi's eyes widened when she realized that one of the Hollows was close enough to the shinigami that it could attack him. And the shinigami's zanpakutou was trapped by the clover, so he couldn't use it to block. The man was desperately trying to free it instead of letting it go and use Kidou. The Eighth Seat raced to save him, but she was too late. The Hollow tore out his throat. Kayabuki cursed. That was why she preferred not to use her power whenever there were other people around. She quickly killed the Hollow before it could cause more damage. Then she moved on.

She purified a few more of the fallen souls when she felt the strain. It was partly because of the blood flowing from the wounds she had accumulated during the battle, but even if she had remained unscatched, she wouldn't have been able to keep this up much longer. Using her shikai always tired her quickly, especially if there was a large area of the four-leaf clover active. She could save her energy by cutting off her connection with the clover fields by sealing her sword and then releasing it again, but then they would turn into regular plants and the trapped Hollows would roam free again.

Fortunately for her, the Hollows recognized that the tides of the battle had turned and began retreating. Hitomi saved her breath of relief for after they were gone. If they realized how low on reiryoku she really was, they would have just waited around and finished them all off once she collapsed.

They were saved for now, but the Eighth Seat knew that they hadn't won yet. The Hollow that had been creating all the illusions had escaped and who knows how many of its buddies escaped with it. She had no idea how strong it really was, but she suspected that if it showed in person, her clover wouldn't be enough to hold it down. So even if she wasn't tired and wounded, this would be a battle she wouldn't be able to win. She could do only one thing: call in the medics and call for reinforcements.

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"I see," Captain Hitsugaya said when the Eighth Seat finished her report. He tried not to show how much it worried him. Hollows who could mask their reiatsu were supposed to be rare or even nonexistent. Yet lately they have been showing up by the dozens. And they were never the same. If it was just one Hollow with a special ability, it wouldn't be a big deal. So many of them were. Or was it perhaps just one Hollow that was masking the reiatsu of the others? And convincing them to cooperate? That was another worrying thing: Hollows were solitary creatures by their nature. If two of them met, they were more likely to try to eat each other than join forces. Yet packs of Hollows were becoming more and more common as of late. What did it mean? Hitsugaya didn't know, but it was bound to be bad.

But first he had to deal with the problem at hand. He had wounded subordinates to take care of and a tricky Hollow to find and purify. His first impulse was just to run after it and introduce it to Hyourinmaru, but he suppressed it. Not only it would mean leaving his men without protection, he couldn't even tell where did the illusion Hollow go. Its reiatsu was hidden again and he couldn't follow its tracks either. It wasn't that there were none, but there were too many leading in all directions and there was no way to tell which ones belonged to the most dangerous of the Hollows.

His best bet was to stay here and wait for it to appear again. He couldn't be certain that it would, but he considered it very likely. The first unit was of too low combat strength to be able to fight their way out if the Hollows attacked with their full strength. Eighth Seat Kayabuki was almost certain that they would have been slaughtered too if the Hollows didn't retreat. That led the prodigy to the conclusion that both units were let go so they could call for someone more powerful and tastier. Hitsugaya had encountered Hollows that used wounded shinigami as bait for bigger prey before. If the illusion Hollow was one such, it was going to get a nasty surprise when it ran into him. He just hoped that the mysterious enemy wasn't one who could justifiably believe it could defeat a captain.

They waited in the village as the Fourth Division's Third Medical Relief Unit arrived, treated the wounded and carried off the most injured ones away. He sent the weaker members of Tenth Division with them. Officially they were supposed to protect the medics and their wounded comrades, unofficially Hitsugaya wanted to get them away because they would only get underfoot in the upcoming battle. Hitsugaya just hoped that the convoy wouldn't be attacked as an easy prey. He was betting on the fact that the Hollow behind it all was after him. He was relieved when a Hell Butterfly brought the message that the wounded arrived at the Relief Station safely. After that they just waited.

The night fell and they still waited. They stayed in the local inn, because there was no need to stay outside the whole night, with their nerves strung high in anticipation, only to be attacked once they were falling asleep on their feet in the morning. Hitsugaya just ordered everybody to keep their zanpakutou at hand all the time, because the attack could come literally anytime. Then he went to his room too.

Matsumoto headed towards the local onsen. She had dust everywhere from the journey and she even got some blood on her while she was helping the wounded before the Fourth arrived. She just couldn't bear staying dirty. No matter what her captain said, a lady had to look perfect in any situation. Taichou probably wouldn't be happy if he saw her soaking in the hot tub now, but she kept Haineko within arm's reach, so she was battle-ready even now. She wasn't breaking any of his orders.

She was about to doze off it the pleasant water, when the sense of foul reiatsu slammed into her like a hammer. Her drooping eyes flew open. She was fully alert now. She grabbed Haineko and ran out of the onsen. She was dripping wet and wrapped only in a towel, but she didn't care. Whatever Hollows were attacking them, they were strong and her taichou was going to need her.

As she arrived onto the village square, she saw that it was just as bad as she expected. There were Hollows everywhere. Though if Hitomi's report was to be believed, most of them weren't really there, but that changed nothing when she didn't know which ones. She had to fight them all.

"Growl, Haineko!" she called. The blade of her sword crumpled into ash. She swung the hilt and sent the ash flying at the wave of Hollows approaching her. It passed through most of them, but a painful howl let her known that she hit something. She twisted her wrist again, destroying whatever Hollow was real in the middle of the group.

A shadow warned her of danger approaching from above. Ten or so identical winged Hollows were diving at her from the sky. Nine of them were probably illusions, but she was almost certain that one of them was real. The ashes of Haineko were too far away to be used for defense. She had to dodge. A fast shunpo got her out of reach of the flying danger. She stopped and fired Hadou #33: Soukatsui into the flock of Hollow birds. An explosion and a scream let her know that she had hit, but the illusions didn't dissipate.

Then claws almost touched her skin. Some Hollow got the drop on her from behind. She twisted her torso quickly, avoiding injury, but the claws had caught in her towel and ripped it from her. She felt the night's chill on her suddenly bare skin. She snarled at the Hollow angrily and destroyed it with a Shakkahou. She grabbed at the towel, wanting to cover herself again, but another Hollow attacked her. She had to dodge and abandon the towel. She didn't like being naked, but she had more important matters to worry about than her modesty. Namely staying alive.

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Hitsugaya too was woken from a nap by the foul reiatsu. Unlike Matsumoto, he was still dressed in his uniform so he faced no dilemma when he grabbed Hyourinmaru and raced out. He arrived at the scene of a pandemonium. Hollows were everywhere. A few of his subordinates were already out, fighting them valiantly. He drew his zanpakutou and joined them.

He could immediately tell that most of the Hollows were just apparitions. There were whole groups of the beasts that looked identical and there wasn't enough Hollow reiatsu in the air for such a big army. Fortunately the apparitions had no reiatsu and made no sound, so it was possible to tell which beasts were real. It wasn't easy, but Hitsugaya was a captain for a reason, so he managed. And if he had trouble, he mentally commanded Hyourinmaru to release his chain and swung it in a wide arc, he could always tell what was real by what the chain struck.

After about a minute, he noticed that his men were having trouble. One just completely froze for no apparent reason and was promptly struck down from behind. Another stumbled and missed a clean shot at a Hollow. He was almost killed too, but Hitsugaya shunpoed to him and saved him.

"What's wrong with you?" the young captain shouted. The man just pointed. Hitsugaya looked that direction. He saw Matsumoto battling a couple of Hollows there, but nothing really scary or dangerous. So what was the problem?

"I think they're distracted by Matsumoto-fukutaichou!" Kayabuki shouted from where she stood in the middle of a clover field.

"Huh?" Hitsugaya blinked and then cleaved in half a Hollow that tried to sneak up on him from behind. "What about her?"

"She's out of uniform," Hitomi explained, slaying a Hollow that got trapped in her clover vines.

"So?" Toushirou asked. He had noticed that Rangiku wasn't wearing a single thread, but what did it have to do with anything?

Kayabuki laughed. "Only you can ask something like this. Didn't we address the matter of her being a distraction years ago?"

"Oh!" Hitsugaya nearly slammed his forehead. Then he turned to the man he had saved a minute ago and who was now staring rigidly in the opposite direction than Matsumoto was. "You're acting as if you have never seen a naked woman before." The man didn't answer.

A short while later Matsumoto joined them.

"It's quiet," she said. "Did we get all the small fries already?"

"It seems so," the young captain replied. Though there were still images of Hollows mingling around, they couldn't feel any reiatsu from them and they weren't attacked physically for the last minute. "I'd say the boss will show up soon."

Almost as soon as he said it, the boss did indeed show up. The gigantic figure trotted through Kayabuki's four-leaf clover patch like it wasn't even there and stood in front of Hitsugaya. The captain studied it with interest.

The first thing that came to his mind was that this Hollow was a she. It didn't have any visible female parts, yet its whole appearance was distinctively feminine. She seemed to be put together from parts of different creatures. Her torso was human-shaped, slim with slender arms. Her fingernails were sharp, a step away from being claws. There were four wings on her back, thin and transparent, triangular in shape, resembling some insect, perhaps a moth or a fly. They didn't seem big enough to allow her to fly. Her lower body resembled a horse, only it was too tall and short to be a horse. It looked more like a giraffe. The tail was long and thin, ending in something that resembled a fin and was probably very sharp. Her head was human, with long turquoise hair cascading down her back. Her mask had three horns, two resembling a ram and one a unicorn. The mask looked very elegant, with purple markings giving it the appearance of a lady's carnival mask. It covered only the upper part of her face, leaving her mouth and chin visible. Her whole body was covered in scales, pale in color, but reflecting all colors of the rainbow. They seemed to reflect green, purple and blue a lot more than the other colors. Yellow, red and orange were barely present, giving her a melancholic appearance. She looked deceptively fragile, but everyone who could feel her reiatsu was able to tell that it wasn't so. She was also beautiful, like a siren luring ships on reefs is beautiful. She was unmistakably deadly.

Hitsugaya wondered what her incomplete mask meant. A Hollow's face should be covered completely. And what was the spear one of her elegant hands was holding? Hollows didn't carry weapons. They were integrated into their bodies. Some Hollows used detachments, but the detachments were still a part of them and usually capable of movement on their own. This spear was clearly an inert tool.

Before he could figure it out, the Hollow spoke. Her voice was deep, but there was no doubt that it belonged to a woman.

"So you're the one who came to fight me? What a shame. You're awfully small for a captain. I could crush you under my hoof."

Hitomi shunpoed away as fast as she could. She knew very well what happened when somebody called Hitsugaya-taichou short. She admired Matsumoto-fukutaichou's valor for staying so close to him now. And while wearing no clothes no less. But the busty blonde didn't make a single step away even when the ground around them whitened with frost and she began shivering in the suddenly cold air.

"You're welcome to try if you think you can do it," Hitsugaya spoke. The Hollow was indeed big enough to step onto him, but he doubted she was stronger than him. Her confident boasting changed nothing about it, boasting was something Hollows did. Especially those who could talk.

"I will," she promised and attacked with her spear. Hitsugaya dodged and jumped high, intending to attack the spot where her giraffe-like body met her torso. She reared on her hind legs and kicked. Hitsugaya blocked the sharp dark purple hoof with Hyourinmaru, but it still sent him flying. He landed on the ground and grimaced. He had underestimated her strength.

Matsumoto used the moment to send the ashes of Haineko at the Hollow's face, but it had no visible effect. It just drew the centaur's attention to her and she was forced to dodge the spear the next moment.

By that time Hitsugaya was back on his feet and his zanpakutou was fully unsealed. He swung it down and sent an ice dragon flying at the Hollow. She crushed it with her spear. Hitsugaya grimaced. He hadn't been holding back in this attack. If she could block it so easily, this was going to be a tough battle.

"Was that all you can do, little captain?" the Hollow sneered. "Are you even really a captain?" Hitsugaya had to bite down his anger. He had to keep a level head if he wanted to prevail in this battle.

"I am the Tenth Division Captain, Hitsugaya Toushirou," he said his introductions. "And you are?"

"Erionni Lucci," she said. "Not that you need to know because you are going to be dead soon." As she spoke, a ball of teal light appeared on top of her middle horn. Despite the strange color, Hitsugaya recognized it as a Cero being charged. He shunpoed away in the nick of time. The beam of Hollow energy hit the ground he used to stand on and made a deep crater. Really deep.

He looked back to see what his subordinates were doing. Matsumoto was trying to cut Erionni's legs with Haineko's ashes, but the Hollow barely noticed. Kayabuki was helping his other subordinates get away. Good. The further they got from this battle the better. It meant that he didn't have to worry about hurting them accidentally. Kayabuki was smart enough to get them really far away as fast as she could. He just had to stall for time until he could release his full power.

Erionni kicked at Matsumoto and the lieutenant shunpoed away. The Hollow turned to look where did she go and for a moment lost track of Hitsugaya. The young captain used it to shunpo close to her and send an ice dragon at the side of her horse-like body. The centaur stumbled, but she remained unharmed.

"You have to try a lot harder if you want to harm me, little shinigami!" she sneered. "My scales can withstand a lot more than your measly attack!"

"Then what about this?" he asked. He let another ice dragon form on his blade. Erionni scoffed and prepared to block with her spear. Hitsugaya swung his sword. Lucci lifted her spear. Hitsugaya threw the chain to wrap around the centaur's legs. Erionni didn't see it. She smashed the ice dragon and then felt the chain hit her front legs and tie them together. Hitsugaya pulled at the chain. Erionni's hooves dug into the ground and she refused to give an inch. Hitsugaya leapt forward to cut her trapped legs, now encased in ice, but Lucci intercepted him with the tip of her spear. Hitsugaya had to veer off quickly to avoid getting skewered.

Erionni reared on her hind legs and smashed the ice capturing her front legs with the blunt end of her spear. The chain binding them fell off.

"Good attempt, boy, but not good enough," she said. "I'm going to show you my true power now." She spread her wings. They weren't transparent anymore. There was a little image of the centaur-like Hollow in each one. Then she waved them and the images sprung forward. A second later there stood four new Erionnis facing Hitsugaya. Another wave of wings and another four joined them. Then four perfectly realistic images of Matsumoto appeared followed by four perfectly realistic images of Hitsugaya and then four more Luccis. Soon Hitsugaya lost sight of the original in the confusion.

He cursed. This wasn't good. Erionni started hiding her reiatsu, so the only way to find her now was by sound. He listened for the sound of hooves. What he heard instead was a pained shriek called by a familiar voice.

"Matsumoto!" he shouted and raced towards the source of the sound. He saw his lieutenant lying on the ground. Well, he saw five of his lieutenants, but only one was lying on the ground, clutching her side where a large hoof-shaped bruise was forming and hissed as she tried to suppress the pain. And even according to his reiatsu sense, that one was the real one. Now where was her assailant? There were three Erionnis around and neither of them gave off any reiatsu, but that meant nothing. Which one would make some sound?

"I'm alright," Matsumoto said through clenched teeth. The sound of her voice almost drowned out the fall of approaching hooves. Hitsugaya whirled around, just in time to see Erionni's spear approaching him at a dangerous speed. He dodged, but not before the blade slid across his ribs. He ignored the pain and slashed at the centaur's front leg with all his might. He finally drew blood, but it was only from a shallow wound. Then Lucci kicked him away so hard he feared she broke several of his ribs.

"Growl!" Matsumoto called, sending Haineko's ashes at the wound in Erionni's leg, hoping to deepen it. The Hollow smacked her with the blunt end of her spear. Matsumoto collapsed.

"Get away from here!" Hitsugaya shouted. "This is above your level!" He charged an ice dragon and sent it at Erionni as he spoke. He could now tell which one was the real one thanks to the wound. Unfortunately Lucci realized it too. Even as she blocked Hitsugaya's attack with her spear, images appeared on her wings. Three seconds and three waves of the transparent wings later, there were twelve copies of Erionni, all of them sporting the same wound.

"I can't leave you!" Matsumoto shouted.

"Go!" Hitsugaya shouted back. "That's an order!" The lieutenant didn't like it, but she knew better than to disobey. She shunpoed away, but stayed close to the battle. She was prepared to race back if her captain needed her.

Hitsugaya waited until she was a safe distance away. He had realized something during this fight: he wasn't going to win this with shikai alone. Erionni Lucci was knocking him around and she didn't seem to be trying hard. There was only one option now. He didn't like resorting to it, but he could see that there was no other way. He took a deep breath and pointed his sword forward. He noticed three copies of the centaur running at him, but he dismissed them as mirages. Neither of them had the wound.

"Bankai!" he called. "Daigu..shit!" the sound of a hoof hitting stone warned him of the mortal danger he was in. He flashed away without completing his release. He was just in time. Lucci's spear made a deep hole in the ground he stood on less than a second ago. Its wielder didn't have a wound, yet it was undeniably real.

_How could I have forgotten? _Hitsugaya nearly smacked himself. _It's a Hollow. It can regenerate fast._

Before Erionni could reach him again, the young captain quickly repeated his release command. "Bankai! Daiguren Hyourinmaru!" This time he wasn't interrupted. The ice wings formed on his back. He used them immediately to rise into the air. He might not know where exactly his opponent was, but he knew that she was somewhere on the ground. She couldn't reach him here.

The opposite was unfortunately true too. Hitsugaya couldn't reach her from his current position either. He had to find where she was and he had to do it quickly. Though his Bankai now lasted much longer than it used to, he still couldn't keep it active as long as other captains. And the longer he kept it released, the worse he felt once he sealed it.

So where was the real Erionni? None of the figures seemed to stand out. He pondered how to find her. Firing attacks at random would just drain his energy. Getting close would be like sending her an invitation to attack.

She attacked without invitation. Before Hitsugaya could come up with a plan, he saw that one of the centaurs was charging a Cero. He smiled. So she was impatient. Good. She didn't know that her best option was to tire him out. That was fine with him. He prepared to dodge and made an ice dragon form on his sword. He began swinging it down just as Lucci was finished charging her Cero. Then Matsumoto appeared between them. Hitsugaya's eyes widened in shock and he changed the direction of his attack at the last moment. He didn't want to hit his lieutenant.

He barely dodged Erionni's Cero. It still hit the edge of his wing and sent ice shards flying everywhere. Hitsugaya quickly reformed the ice appendage. Then he mentally kicked himself. He could still feel Matsumoto's reiatsu way away from the battlefield. The one who had jumped between him and the Hollow had been one of Lucci's mirages. He had let himself be fooled by a simple trick.

He looked down, but realized that in the moment his vision had been obscured he had lost sight of the real Erionni. He cursed. He could have gotten her if he hadn't been distracted by what was so obviously an illusion. But despite knowing that the Matsumoto he saw wasn't the real one, that all his subordinates had vacated the battlefield long ago, if he saw another image of his lieutenant interpose herself between him and his target, he'd hesitate again. It was a reflex that was hard to override. He trusted his eyes too much. Maybe he should close them? No, then he'd be blind. And because Lucci was masking her presence, he'd have to fight by his ears only. He wasn't good enough at that to risk it against an opponent this powerful.

That brought him back to his original question of how to recognize the real Erionni. Just as before, none of the centaurs stood out and this time she didn't try to snipe him with a Cero, choosing instead to wait and see what he would do. And he knew he had to do something soon. There were cracks already forming on one of his twelve petals.

He briefly considered using Kidou, possibly some Bakudou with a wide area of effect to capture Erionni, but the images were scattered over a too wide area. He couldn't encompass it all in one shot, no matter which spell he used. And trying to cast Kidou while in Bankai wasn't the smartest idea. He always had trouble putting just the right amount of reiryoku into them. And when a spell was overloaded, it tended to explode. So Kidou was out.

He had already determined that his best chance of recognizing the real threat would be by his hearing. For that, he had to get close. And he had to be ready to act the moment he heard the sound of hooves striking the hard ground. He took a deep breath, concentrated power in his sword and landed in the middle of the swarm of images.

And waited. Why was Lucci taking so much time? Did she finally figure out that she had to drag this battle on? She had seemed like an impatient type when she had used the Cero, but then again, she had waited for days for him to come after her. So she probably was the patient type after all. That could become troublesome. Hitsugaya had to do something to find her before too much of his petals melted.

He decided to start simple. "Guncho Tsurara!" he called and swung his zanpakutou in a wide arc. The barrage of icicles flew from his blade in a wide angle. Performed like this the attack wasn't too damaging to an opponent of Erionni's strength, but if it hit her, it should reveal her position. It didn't. Hitsugaya turned and tried another direction.

There was almost no warning when the attack came. He couldn't hear anything over the sound of his own voice calling the attack's name. He couldn't feel the breeze caused by the enemy's approach over the wind caused by his wings moving. The trembling of the ground when heavy hooves fell onto it was almost imperceptible, yet it was all he needed to know he had to dodge. It was almost too late. The spear had been aiming to pierce his head from behind. He threw himself to the side just in time for the spearhead to slide along his skull and cut a gash above his eye. Blood flowed, obscuring his vision. Hitsugaya didn't bother wiping it out and just swung his tail close above the ground. Erionni jumped over it. As she was midair, Hitsugaya sent an ice dragon flying at her. She couldn't dodge, she could only block. The momentum of the attack sent her rolling on the ground backwards.

Hitsugaya was upon her in an instant. Hyourinmaru slashed down. Erionni blocked with her spear. "Ryuusenka!" Ice erupted from the spot the two weapons touched, enveloping the Hollow's spear in a giant block of ice. Erionni didn't let it stop her and pushed against Hitsugaya, forcing him to take a few steps back. Then she jumped to her feet, eh... hooves. It was amazing how quickly she could do it with her seemingly clumsy giraffe-like body.

By that time Hitsugaya was attacking again. He bypassed her ice-covered spear and slashed at her side. The effect of his attack was diminished by the fact that at the same moment Erionni hit him with the blunt end of her spear (she could move it surprisingly fast considering all the ice weighing it down) and sent him flying. Hyourinmaru only slid along the scales on her back.

When Hitsugaya got to his feet, he saw that the centaur was already facing him and charging a Cero on her middle horn. He threw himself to the side to avoid the deadly teal beam, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Erionni wasn't aiming at him. Instead she used the Cero to shatter the ice covering her weapon. And the moment she could wield it properly again, she used it to attack Hitsugaya.

The young captain dodged the spear and shunpoed close to Erionni again. He swung Hyourinmaru at her front right thigh. The blade bit into the scaled skin, but didn't go very deep. The scales were tougher than they looked. And as Erionni moved, the wound squeezed Hyourinmaru's blade and Hitsugaya couldn't pull it out fast enough. Erionni's spear was nearing his head at a dangerous speed and Hitsugaya couldn't dodge. He ducked his head down and moved the wings of his Bankai to protect him. The spear made cracks in them, but couldn't pierce through. Hitsugaya sent more power into his wings and reformed them in an attempt to trap the centaur's weapon.

His attempt was interrupted by sharp pain blossoming in his side. Where did it come from? He realized the answer quickly. Erionni's tail. She hadn't been using it much and he had completely forgotten about it. And now it had snaked under his ice wing and stabbed him in the stomach. It was a bad wound, but Hitsugaya couldn't afford to let it slow him down. He froze it over with a thought. It still hurt, but at least it wasn't bleeding.

Now what to do about his still trapped sword? The answer was easy. "Ryuusenka!" Ice sprouted from his blade and around Lucci's body. She shrieked and drew away. That partially shattered the ice and freed Hitsugaya's weapon. The young captain dropped to the ground and attacked again, before Erionni could get over the shock of having one of her legs frozen in ice. Hitsugaya's next attack aimed at said leg and shattered it. The Hollow roared in pain and anger. Though a lost limb wouldn't usually mean much because she could regenerate quickly, now the ice lingering on the wound was preventing her from using her ability. And she had trouble balancing her tall body on only three legs. She had to finish this fight quickly before the small shinigami could take advantage of it.

She waved her wings, sending four copies of herself into battle. But Hitsugaya ignored them, much to her dismay. The real Lucci now had ice created with his reiatsu covering her so he could tell exactly which one was it. He ignored everything else.

Erionni saw him charging at her and swung her spear. Hitsugaya saw it, but his wound slowed him down so he couldn't dodge fast enough. His wings protected him from harm, but he was still knocked down. The night around them brightened as the Hollow charged a Cero. And simultaneously she attacked Hitsugaya with her tail.

The young captain shunpoed upwards. If running was giving him trouble, he had to fly. Erionni realized where he was only after she had released the Cero, so she missed him widely. She aimed her spear at him, but she stumbled as she wasn't used to moving on three legs. Hitsugaya capitalized on the moment.

"Ryuusenka!" His sword was enveloped in the super-cold ice. He dropped down from the sky, attacking Erionni. She tried to put her spear in his path again to skewer him, but Hitsugaya batted it away with his tail. She also began charging a Cero, but she wasn't fast enough. Hitsugaya slashed his sword and cut deep into her back right between her horse and human-like halves. Then he crashed into her, his momentum knocking her down. Simultaneously, ice sprouted around her wound.

They crashed to the ground in a mass of bodies and ice. Erionni roared and released her Cero. At this distance Hitsugaya had no chance to dodge. There was only a wall of ice between them to block the energy attack partially. Then the beam of blue-green light slammed into him. It felt like being on fire. For a moment there was nothing but the pain. Then it ended abruptly. Hitsugaya found himself lying on the ground, panting. Then he realized that lying around when his enemy was still around was a bad idea and pushed himself up. He was a bit amazed that he managed without much trouble. He thought half of his body was burnt away and unusable. But when he looked at himself, he saw that his shihakushou was torn and his skin all red, but the damage from the Cero didn't seem to be bad. It just hurt terribly. He quickly used his reiatsu to cool down the burnt area and turned his attention to Erionni.

She was still lying on the ground, the ice pinning her down. And even if it wasn't, the wound that Hitsugaya had caused her would prevent her from moving anyway. But the centaur-like Hollow wasn't about to lie down and die quietly. She was already using her spear to break the ice, though so far she had little success. It was probably because she didn't have the strength necessary anymore.

Hitsugaya gathered his remaining strength and shunpoed towards her. She turned towards him, but she was too slow. Hitsugaya's zanpakutou hit her mask. Lucci's body jolted. Her hand with spear she wanted to hit Hitsugaya with fell to the ground. Hitsugaya struck again. And again. At the third strike, her mask was destroyed and her head cleaved in half. Her body slumped limply on the ground and began dissolving. The mirages mingling around winked out.

Hitsugaya slumped on the ground and deactivated his Bankai. There still was one whole flower remaining, but there was no need to cut it close. He felt tired enough as it was.

He sat on the ground and thought about the fight. It unsettled him. Not because of the wounds he had suffered, but because this opponent wasn't an ordinary one.

Soon, he felt a familiar reiatsu approaching.

"Taichou!" Matsumoto called. "Are you alright?"

"I'll live," he answered. She immediately looked concerned.

"How badly are you hurt? Should I call for the Fourth Division?"

"I can get there on my own," Hitsugaya replied. His wounds were more painful than dangerous.

"Where's the Hollow?" she asked.

"I killed her."

"I knew you were going to win!" she cheered.

"Hn."

"Why so morose?" the lieutenant inquired.

"I'm worried," Hitsugaya answered.

"What about?" Matsumoto wondered. "You won."

"Yes," the captain nodded. "But this one, she wasn't a regular Hollow."

"She looked Hollow enough to me," the blonde replied.

"Didn't you see her mask?" the white-haired boy asked. "It wasn't covering her whole face."

"Now that you speak about it, her mouth showed, but I didn't think it was a big deal," the lieutenant replied.

"Did you ever see a Hollow whose face wasn't fully covered?" Hitsugaya questioned.

"Hm... no," she answered after a while of consideration.

"Also, her reiatsu was weird. It was different from a Hollow's. I've never felt such before. And the spear she had. Hollows don't carry weapons."

"What does it mean?" Matsumoto asked. "If she wasn't a Hollow, what could she be?"

"I think she might have been an Arrancar," Hitsugaya voiced his theory.

"Ara... what?"

"Arrancar," Hitsugaya repeated. "A Hollow that had removed a part of its mask and gained shinigami-like powers."

"That sounds scary," Matsumoto shuddered. "How comes I've never heard about it?"

"They're rare," Hitsugaya explained.

"And we had to run into one," Matsumoto sighed.

"Maybe it wasn't really one," Hitsugaya shrugged. "I've never encountered one before, so I can't be sure."

"So what else could it be?" she questioned. Hitsugaya just shrugged.

"No idea." He wasn't going to solve the mystery now. It would have been nice if he could have brought a sample to Kurotsuchi, but there was nothing left of the mysterious being. Even her spear had dissolved into reishi. He'd still request the Twelfth to investigate this area, but he doubted they would find anything. There was no point in dwelling on it any longer. He had other concerns to address.

"Did everybody get away safely?" he asked.

"Yes," Matsumoto answered. "Kayabuki is in charge of them now. We've already called for the Fourth, they should arrive anytime."

"Good," Hitsugaya nodded. "Let's go then." He got to his feet. He swayed slightly as he suddenly felt a rush of weakness. He hoped that Matsumoto didn't notice it. She did.

"Taichou," she exclaimed in alarm. "Shouldn't I help you?"

"That won't be necessary. I can walk on my own."

"Well, if you change your mind, I'm here," the lieutenant replied.

"I know. And Matsumoto?"

"Yes, taichou?"

"Get dressed."

.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv.

In a secret room hidden at an unknown location somewhere in Soul Society, three figures were watching the footage of the battle.

"So what do you think?" the man in the middle asked.

"It performed about as well as could be expected, Aizen-sama," the one on the left stated.

"It could use sum' improvin', Aizen-taichou," the one of the right said. "Lil' Shiro-chan got her good."

"It's still an early protorype," Aizen said, his brown eyes not showing what he really felt, if he felt anything.

"It performed much better than the last one," Tousen pointed out. "But wasn't it too dangerous to send it out like this?"

"Don't worry, Kaname," the bespectacled traitor said. "It can't be traced back to us."

"I still think we should have waited for a better model before testing it in combat," the blind man said. "Somebody might notice something odd is going on. This was pointless. It got killed without killing anybody powerful."

"She almost did," Ichimaru said.

"True," Aizen nodded. "But it still is no match for a captain. Not even one of the younger ones."

"Dunno, Aizen-taichou," Ichimaru cocked his head. "It gave Hitsu-chan a run for his money. One moment I thought he might actually lose."

"But he didn't," Tousen pointed out.

"It wasn't a complete Arrancar," Aizen pointed out. "Though it finally had something resembling a zanpakutou, it isn't what I want to create. The process still needs some work." _And Urahara's Hougyouku, _he added mentally. His own version left a lot to be desired. Too bad he had no idea where the exiled inventor was or where did he stash his creation.

"But it still was pretty dangerous there for the kid and Ran-chan," Ichimaru insisted.

"Ah, yes," Aizen nodded. "Do you mind that it was the Tenth Division that reacted to the call?"

"Why would I?" Gin raised an eyebrow. Outwardly, he was smiling. Inwardly, he was plotting how much more gruesome he was going to make Aizen's eventual death. "I got to see Ran-chan naked, didn't I?"


	4. Tousen's friend

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.**

**Tales of the Ninth Division**

** Tousen's friend**

Genre: Tragedy

Rating: T

Characters: Tousen, Tousen's friend, OCs

* * *

><p>Yakumaru had always considered himself a lucky man. His name meant benefit or gain and his life was marked with success. He had been born into a good family, not one of the best, but noble, wealthz and influential enough, he had graduated the Academy in the top ten of his class, entered the Gotei 13 and earned an seated officer's position, he wasn't really high-ranked, but he wasn't a low grunt either. And then he met the most wonderful girl, Fujie-chan, and fell in love. And she loved him too. They married and they were happy together. Everything was perfect and Yakumaru couldn't be happier. And then suddenly everything began falling apart. It was then that Yakumaru began to wonder whether he should change the kanji in his name to mean the more appropriate 'bad luck.'<p>

The whole mess had started innocently enough. There was a man in Yakumaru's division, called Sakei, who disliked Yakumaru and Yakumaru disliked him. He didn't even remember how did their mutual antipathy start, they had first argued the first time they met without a reason Yakumaru could recall. Just seeing each other was enough to make them angry. Their relationship continued on the same vein. Whenever they met tempers rose and harsh words were exchanged, in an attempt to retaliate for their previous argument.

The day when everything began falling apart it was the same, only this time Sakei was really, really drunk. He spoke the first insult the moment he had spotted Yakumaru. Yakumaru had been in a bad mood and immediately snapped back, saying something harsher than usual. Sakei couldn't ignore it and retaliated with an even worse insult. And so the shouting started. Then Sakei drew his sword. Yakumaru reacted on instinct. His zanpakutou appeared in his hand in an instant. He lifted it to stop Sakei's mad charge.

Yakumaru was usually good at anticipating his opponents' moves, but Sakei was drunk and therefore unpredictable. He tripped. His katana missed Yakumaru widely, but he fell on Yakumaru's blade. The edge cut through his throat. Sakei collapsed to the ground.

Yakumaru stared in disbelief. What did just happen? Sakei lay on the ground, bleeding fast. Was he dead? Did he just kill him? Oh no, he couldn't have just killed somebody. He felt dread rising inside him. He fled the scene, not even thinking about checking whether Sakei was truly dead or whether he could still be saved. In his panic he didn't think of where he was going. He didn't even know how long he had been running; it could have been hours before his feet had carried him into his home. He still moved in a daze when his wife's voice reached him.

"...all bloody. I didn't want to believe it, but you really did it, didn't you?' Fujie's words finally registered. "What have you done?" she accused. "I know you didn't like Sakei, but you didn't have to kill him!"

"I didn't want to!" he shouted. "He started it!"

"It doesn't matter who started it!" Fujie argued. Why was she shouting so much? She wasn't like this usually. He just wanted her to be quiet. Unfortunately his wife didn't see it. She walked in front of him and stood on her toes to face him directly. "You killed a man!" Oh, why couldn't she be quiet. His conscience was accusing him enough. He didn't need to hear it stereo. "I can't believe I married a murderer!"

"Shut up!" He just couldn't listen to her anymore, he just couldn't. He pushed her away. In her precarious position she lost balance easily and tumbled down. She remained lying on the floor, completely still. It took Yakumaru a long time to realize that she was too still.

"Fujie?" he called her. Nothing. "Dear?" Still no answer. Not even a twitch. "Honey?" Still nothing. Now he was getting worried. He knelt next to her and touched her experimentally. Her eerie stillness became even more apparent. "Fujie?" he asked again, lifting her head. His hand came back slick with blood. Dread settled into his heart once again. He didn't want to see, but he couldn't stop himself from turning her head. There under matted black hair a crack was clearly visible from where her head had hit the corner of the table as she fell. There was no way she could have survived this wound.

"Fujie," Yakumaru whispered before he began sobbing. And that was how the Onmitsukidou found him, still cradling his wife's dead body.

The following days were like a feverish dream to Yakumaru. The investigation. The trial. He confessed everything. He was guilty. Yet the Central 46 didn't sentence him. They didn't want to lose a good officer over an accident. His family's intervention might have helped as well. But he didn't want their help. He wanted to suffer. He didn't want to live without his beloved Fujie.

Once he was released, he walked as if in a dream. He didn't even notice how he got outside Seireitei. He walked until his feet refused to carry him. Then he stopped on a grassy hill and stared into the distance. Yakumaru sat there until he came. A man with dark skin and blank white eyes. Yakumaru realized that he had heard about him. Fujie's friend he had never met.

"You murdered her," Tousen stated. Yakumaru just nodded imperceptibly. It was true. The Central 46 might have found him innocent, but he felt guilty. "I came to carry out Justice," Tousen continued, raising a hand holding a sword. Fujie's sword, Yakumaru realized. Maybe it was right this way. He didn't even flinch as Suzumushi fell down.

Tousen cleaned his slain friend's blade on the grass. He spared no look to the body of the man he had just killed. He had only executed a criminal. Such was Justice. But it was only one man. Forty six more guilty men still walked free. Now what can he do to bring Justice to them?

* * *

><p><strong>End note: <strong>This is something that always bugged me. Tousen said that letting the murderer of his friend go was a travesty of justice. But that's just Tousen's version of the story and Tousen isn't know for letting such small matters as facts interfere with his sense of Justice. But what if the truth was different and the Central 46 decided correctly? Wouldn't it be ironic?


	5. Soifon's hair

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.**

**Tales of the Second Division**

**Soifon's hair**

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Friendship

Rating: K+

Characters: Soifon, Yoruichi

* * *

><p>Soifon always wanted to have long hair. But she had to serve in the Onmitsukidou and long hair would be a disadvantage. She could keep it in a bun, but buns took too long to make and she didn't like them anyway. She wanted long, rich hair trailing behind her when she pounced down on whoever the Onmitsukidou was after today.<p>

She decided on a compromise. She let her hair grow just below her shoulders. That was short enough so she wasn't in danger of having her hair grabbed by an enemy yet it was long enough that if she looked in a mirror, she could pretend that her hair was long, flowing down to her waist or even lower. And she cut her fringe in the style of princesses of olden days. That way she could pretend that she was a princess too and yet her hairstyle was practical. Some people might call it girly, but Soifon would counter that it was practical. It allowed her to blend in while on an undercover assignment better than a military hairstyle would. And she really liked being girly once in a while.

Soifon really liked her long hair and that was why she really hated having something happen to them. And something did happen. It started as a day just like any other. She rose in the morning, arrived at the Onmitsukidou headquarters and knelt quietly as Yoruichi-sama dealt with the daily paperwork. Then the Shihouin lady declared she was tired of the bureaucracy and decided to do a mission herself to stave off the boredom. Soifon, her trusted bodyguard, followed her.

The mission Yoruichi had picked was finding and catching two deserters. Both of them used to be seated officers of the Gotei 13, so an elite force had to be sent after them. But Yoruichi and her bodyguards going was overkill. They quickly arrived at the location the deserters had been spotted last. To Soifon's slight surprise they were still there. Amateurs. _Well, this is going to be easy, _she thought. In the next moment their targets spotted them.

Things quickly erupted into chaos. The two wanted men attacked. One was stopped by Yoruichi and they began exchanging blows. It was obvious that the golden-eyed woman was toying with him.

The other buy started after Soifon, probably thinking that because she was the smallest she was also the weakest. Well, Soifon smirked under her mask, she was going to enjoy correcting his mistake. Then the man suddenly vanished. He was fast. But where did he go? She almost didn't realize it in time. He was behind her. She jumped forward. She just barely made it. She could feel the cold touch of his blade on the back of her neck.

She reached up to check the wound. It was very shallow, barely bleeding. But she realized something else. Her hair, her beautiful hair had been cut and now strands of it were floating between her and the criminal.

"My hair!" Soifon roared in anger. Suzumebachi appeared in her hand in a flash. Then she pounced on the culprit. He might have been fast, but Soifon was powered by righteous anger over her ruined hair. The man never stood a chance.

"Don't you think he has enough?" Yoruichi's voice finally filtered through the red haze of rage clouding Soifon's mind. She realized that she had been punching the man's prone body for a whole minute now. She let go of him in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Yoruichi-sama." She really shouldn't have given into her anger like this. It was unprofessional. Yoruichi-sama might kick her out of her bodyguard unit now and that would be too terrible. But he had cut her hair.

"Tie them up and let's return," the Onmitsukidou commander ordered.

"Yes, Yoruichi-sama," Soifon answered and quickly fulfilled the order. It looked like Yoruichi-sama wasn't angry at her. But she should be on better behavior in the future. Even Yoruichi-sama's generosity had limits.

Once her shift was over, she was free to decide what to do about her ruined hairdo. And she had to do something soon. The deserter had cut only a part of her hair and the result looked just plain ridiculous. The girl quickly decided that the best solution was to visit a hairdresser and do it soon. Too many people had already snickered at her appearance.

The hairdresser did her best to save Soifon's hair, but there was only so much she could do. As Soifon studied her reflection in a mirror, she had to admit that her new chin-length cut looked good. Professional. Exactly what an Onmitsukidou operative was supposed to look like. But she couldn't pretend she was a princess anymore.

"Why so down?" The cheerful voice spoke next to her ear. Soifon jumped a meter. She had had no idea she hadn't been alone.

"Yo-Yoruichi-sama!" she spluttered. Curse it, she was being unprofessional again. There went her resolution.

"So you got your hair cut? That's no reason to be so morose," the Shihouin clan head continued cheerfully. It was easy for her to be cheerful, Soifon thought. Her hair hadn't been cut against her will. "You look good in short hair. Look," she said waving a strand of her perfect purple hair in Soifon's face, "I have short hair too!"

Yoruichi-sama had short hair. That meant that Soifon had now hair just like Yoruichi-sama. Well, almost. And Yoruichi-sama said that her hair looked good. Soifon couldn't be happier.

"Thank you, Yoruichi-sama!" she exclaimed, blushing like a schoolgirl.

"What for?" the dark-skinned woman raised an eyebrow.

"Everything." Soifon decided that she wasn't going to change her hairstyle ever again.

I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I

Years later Soifon was reconsidering her decision to never change her hairstyle. By that time Yoruichi was long gone from Soul Society, branded a traitor and Soifon no longer cared that she had liked hairdo. But she had to admit it was practical and professional. But a part of her wanted to be a long-haired princess again. Another part of her told her that she should forget such nonsense and concentrate on being a good commander of the Onmitsukidou and captain of the Second Division. She might just cut her hair even shorter. Another part suggested getting some really original hairdo to distinguish herself. Yet another part of her said not to bother and just leave things the way they are. It was a long and heated argument.

In the end Soifon decided to compromise. She kept her old style and grew her hair. It sounded nonsensical, but she found a way to accomplish both at once: she grew out only two thin braids in the back. This way she could have both the practical style Yoruichi had liked and the long flowing hair of a princess she had always dreamed of. She branded the long strands of hair so they wouldn't get tangled. But the braids looked too thin so she wrapped them in white cloth. That was better, but it was still missing something. She decided to add golden rings at the ends of her braids. Now it was perfect. Her own unique look. Practical and stern, yet feminine. And don't anyone dare to say that she looked stupid. And if somebody though they could grab her braids in battle, well, Soifon smirked evilly, they could certainly _try._


End file.
